Southern Section Individual Tennis Championships : Jon Leach Meets His Match : Laguna Beach Sophomore Loses Final in 3 Sets

Jon Leach of Laguna Beach High School came into Saturday’s Southern Section singles final riding a two-year wave of success. Though he’s just a sophomore, Leach already had made an indelible imprint on high school tennis.

When he won the singles title last year, he became the first freshman to win it since 1952. The championship came on the heels of a victory in the 16-year-old age group at the Ojai Valley tournament.

In all, Leach won 65 sets in 1988. He lost one.

This season, he had a 59-0 record in singles sets coming into Saturday’s final at the SeaCliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach. He had won yet another Ojai 16s title in April and, after beating Willy Quest of Long Beach Wilson in the Southern Section semifinals, appeared primed for another singles championship.

Until this year, Alejo Mancisdor of Palm Springs had never played a set of high school tennis. But like Leach, he came into Saturday’s match unbeaten in a set this season, 64-0. Mancisdor, an 18-year-old senior, also had won the Ojai high-school division championship.

For a set Saturday, Leach seemed to have the upper hand. But Mancisdor was patient, waiting for the right time to pounce on his younger rival. When he did, it was quick and decisive as Leach lost, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Mancisdor’s baseline game, honed on the slow clay courts in his native Spain, was too strong for Leach. His powerful ground strokes kept Leach guessing, particularly in the second and third sets. So strong were his shots that Leach was worn out by the start of the third set.

“He’s just a maestro from the baseline,” Leach said.

In Spain, everyone plays from the baseline, Mancisdor said. The competition level among junior players is about the same but there is one significant difference.

“Here everybody comes to the net,” he said.

Mancisdor came to the desert three years ago to live and learn with Jose Higueras, a former highly ranked pro who lives in Rancho Mirage. But he was ineligible to play at Palm Springs his first two years and played only in junior tournaments.

“I really wanted to play high school tennis,” said Mancisdor, who was finally eligible to play this season.

And he unloaded quite a surprise on his unsuspecting high school opponents this season.

“I didn’t even know he was in high school,” Leach said. “I knew Willy Quest was the top returning player from last season.”

And, as Leach learned Saturday, Mancisdor proved to be more difficult to handle than Quest.

Everything seemed to go Leach’s way in the first set, perhaps a carryover from his 6-2, 6-4 victory over Quest. His serve was working well. He was able to effectively neutralize Mancisdor’s baseline game with powerful volleys.

Mancisdor didn’t panic, though, keeping to his game. His serve started to have more sting to it and he began to pass Leach with deep winners.

“He has only one way to play,” Leach said. “He stays back and wears you out. He kept me running from side to side.”

The turning point came in the second set. Mancisdor broke Leach’s serve as Leach missed two volleys. Mancisdor went ahead, 3-2, held serve, then broke Leach again to lead, 5-2.

“Once you start losing, you get even more tired,” Leach said. “Once he broke me, I just got beached.”

Rob Atkin and Doug Schulein of Corona del Mar won the doubles championship with a 7-5, 7-6 victory over Brian Giffin and Peter Morawiecki of Camarillo.

After winning the first set, Atkin and Schulein went ahead, 4-2, but Giffin and Morawiecki rallied to force a tiebreaker. Atkin’s booming serve helped them win the tiebreaker, 7-2.

“We were up, 4-2, and, 40-15, in the second set and lost serve,” Schulein said. “We both missed easy volleys.”